Chatwal has a long history of trouble with the law.
Wealthy playboy and founder of several high-profile hotels in New York City Vikram Chatwal, son of the businessman and hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal, was arrested Tuesday in New York City for setting on fire two Jack Russel Terriers outside his SoHo condo.
Chatwal, 44, was charged with animal torture, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment for the October 7 attack on Wooster St. near Grand St., in Manhattan, reported the Daily News
Witnesses said the Dream Hotel group founder, who has a reputation for partying at clubs and dating models and actresses like Lindsay Lohan and Esther Canadas, stormed up to two Jack Russel Terriers being walked outside his home at about 11:30 a.m. and singed the dogs’ fur with a blow torch that he put together from an aerosol can and a lighter.
The dogs suffered minor injuries when their fur was burned, officials said. Cops had been looking to interview Chatwal since the attack. His arraignment was pending Tuesday.
Chatwal has had a number of run-ins with the police over the years. In 2013, he was jailed in Florida after cops allegedly found him with illegal drugs at an airport checkpoint.
He also admitted in 2014 that he was an addict who has been in rehab 10 times when he wrote a judge a letter of support for his father, hotel magnate Sant Singh Chatwal, for making illegal campaign contributions to Hillary Clinton and other candidates seeking federal office, reported Daily News.
Sant Singh Chatwal was sentenced to probation and forced to pay a $500,000 fine after pleading guilty to making the illegal contributions.
Hollywood Gossip reported a TMZ cameraman caught up with Chatwal after his act of setting the dogs on fire and captured some very strange footage of the hotel founder.
Chatwal seems both confused and apologetic in the video. A witness says he was wondering on the street when he started yelling things like “the vehicle is compromised,” while also muttering to himself about the “CIA.”
“I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy,” Chatwal is heard uttering in the following clip.
Chatwal’s personal website was suspended Tuesday morning, but a bio page previously featured on the site describes him as the founder of hotels including Dream, Night, Time, Unscripted, and Augustus. The bio also says that he is a model, actor and movie producer who has had roles in the movies Zoolander and Spring Breakers.
Of Indian origin, who was born in Ethiopia, Chatwal moved to Montreal in the 1970s and then to New York in the 1980s.
He attended the United Nations International School in New York City, as well as the Wharton School of Business; he graduated from the latter in 1994.
1 Comment
Why isn’t he wearing the diaper on his head??